Fil: Gómez, Sonia Alejandra. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: Rapoport, Melina J. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: Piergrossi, N. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: Faccone, Diego. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: Pasteran, Fernando. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: De Belder, Denise. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: ReLAVRA-Group. Red Latinoamericana de Vigilancia de la Resistencia a los Antimicrobianos (ReLAVRA).Fil: Petroni, Alejandro. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.Fil: Corso, Alejandra. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Departamento de Bacteriología. Servicio Antimicrobianos; Argentina.The worldwide dissemination of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ST258 demands a rapid PCR-based typing method to detect unique genes of the ST258 clone. This study evaluates a PCR developed by Adler et al. (2014) for the detection of ST258 in K. pneumoniae clinical isolates centered on the identification of the pilv-I and prp genes. We tested 143 clinical isolates from Argentina (n=109), Chile (n=1), Colombia (n=1), Costa Rica (n=2), Ecuador (n=5), El Salvador (n=2), Nicaragua (n=5), Panamá (n=2), Paraguay (n=2), Perú (n=3) and Trinidad and Tobago (n=11) recovered from 2006 to 2015. blaKPC, pilv-l and prp genes were detected by PCR and sequenced by standard procedures. ST258 and non-ST258 were defined by PFGE and/or MLST. Isolates were grouped according to PFGE patterns: 58 were compatible with ST258 (group 1) and 85 with non-ST258 (group 2). MLST study was done on an arbitrary selection of isolates. The pilv-l gene was present only in ST258 isolates, regardless of the presence of the blaKPC gene. Results for the prp gene were variable. Its presence did not define ST258. The pilv-I PCR had a sensitivity and specificity of 100%, respectively, for the detection of ST258 in the isolates under investigation. Given our findings, the pilv-I PCR could replace more time and resource consuming methods, allowing for more rapid detection of the circulating high risk K. pneumoniae clone ST258 in Latin American (LA) countries.